Sugar and Spice
by missy52061
Summary: Sometime in the future, Kate comes home early from work. Fluffy bit of something to make things a little better. And I don't own Castle.


Kate Beckett thought that one of the best perks of being captain of her own precinct was the ability to leave at a reasonable hour. (It also helped that her right hand man was her old partner, Kevin Ryan, and the two of them watched out for each other) Today, that meant she could leave at 3 PM; that meant that she could go home and be with her husband and her two year old daughter, two of her most favorite people in the world.

Yeah, she hadn't been a baby person, but falling in love with and marrying Richard Castle opened her heart to the possibility of becoming one. And when she found herself pregnant, and then giving birth to Lily Johanna, she became a baby person. Because Lily was the most special baby in the world; she was beautiful and adorable and so smart.

Now at age two, Lily was the most special toddler in the world. Kate loved how her daughter did everything with gusto. When they took her to the park, she ran around and around, insisting they push her "high, Mama" and that they go down the slide as many times as she could stand. If they went to the park after it rained, they had learned to put her in her oldest jeans and make sure she had her boots on since she insisted on splashing in every single puddle. This was the girl who loved to feed herself no matter how much food she got on herself instead of in herself.

But she was the same girl who loved to get all dressed up and go to lunch with her mother or her sister or her Gram. The same girl who took care of her "babies" – her dolls – with as much care as her mother and father took care of her. The same girl who lavished kisses on her mama when she came from work at the end of the day or her daddy when he came home from a meeting or a book tour, the same girl who literally jumped for joy when she first saw her grandpa or grandma or big sister when they came to visit.

So Kate was really looking forward to surprising her daughter and her husband – she had decided that she wouldn't call or text Rick when she left – on this ordinary Tuesday. Maybe she'd get to cook dinner or maybe she'd watch Rick cook or maybe they'd cook together. Maybe she'd spend the afternoon cuddled up with Lily, reading as many stories as possible. Maybe they'd all go to the park. But no matter what they'd do, it would be special.

She smiled as she slowly put the key in the lock and opened the door to their home. She slipped out of her shoes and put everything away in the hall closet. Then she silently walked into the loft, but Rick and Lily weren't downstairs. She went upstairs and she could hear them – they were in Lily's room. She peeked around the slightly open door and smiled.

From the moment Lily was born, they could count on her grandparents and the type of presents they would give. Grandpa Jim was the go to guy for all things Mets; he gave her a Mets onesie the day she was born and as she grew, he got her other Mets shirts and other Mets themed items. And watching Rick and Lily at play in her bedroom made Kate grin as she thought about Gram's favorite gifts – dress-up clothes. She'd given Lily plastic tiaras, cowboy hats, feather-y boas, tutus, and all manner of things to fire up her grandchild's imagination.

And right now, Lily's favorite item was a pair of fairy wings. One was a glittery pink (Lily's favorite color) and the other was purple, which Martha knew was Kate's favorite color. The two of them had worn them the other day when Lily wanted to pretend to fly. But right now, Lily was wearing hers while she poured out pretend tea for her daddy, who was proudly wearing the purple pair as he accepted his cup of tea.

It made Kate think back to that case they worked on years ago. They knew there was a witness in a second grade class and Rick went "undercover". He had a tea party with a little girl who they thought might be the witness (she wasn't, but Rick had helped her tell about a bully). She hadn't witnessed the tea party but Rick later told her all about it, and how he had worn fairy wings then too. She didn't doubt that if he hadn't had a problem wearing them for Emily, he probably volunteered to wear them for their daughter. After all, they all knew Lily had her daddy tightly wrapped around her little fingers. (Well, if Kate was honest, Lily had her wrapped in those fingers too)

Kate watched her two favorite people have their tea party for a few more moments, but she must have made some kind of noise because Lily turned around and noticed her in the doorway. "Mama!" she cried out as Kate walked all the way into the room. Rick jumped up and kissed her cheek as Lily held up her arms to her mother. And Kate knew no matter what the three of them did for the rest of the day, this day was already special. She was with her baby and her husband and that made everything perfect.

And her husband looked really hot, even wearing purple sparkly fairy wings!

 **A/N: I hope you all don't mind me posting this little bit of fluff. Once again, things going on in the world are just making me sad and I needed happy. Then I saw some pictures from "Child's Play" – specifically of Nathan Fillion wearing those fairy wings – and this popped into my head. I'm sure that in the future, on a Tuesday, Kate Beckett comes home from work and finds Rick Castle wearing fairy wings because Lily Castle asked him to.**


End file.
